BDN interviews Garland about determining planting hardiness zones
The Bangor Daily News interviewed Kate Garland, a horticultural professional with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, for the article “How to determine your hardiness zone.” Hardiness zones were developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine which plants grow best in different climates, with each zone representing the region’s minimum average winter temperatures, the article states. “It helps people understand what they can and cannot plant in their landscape,” Garland said. The zones are most helpful for determining what perennial plants will survive year-round in a particular area, and how well and how long annual plants will live, according to Garland. The USDA’s Hardiness Zone Map was first published in 1960 and was updated in 1990 and 2012 to reflect changing climatic conditions, the BDN reported. “It’s based on a lot of weather data, so it’s changing,” Garland said. And while useful in a general sense, the zone map can fail to show certain nuances, according to the article. “Just because you’re in a warmer zone doesn’t mean you’re in an easier growing climate. Coastal towns in warmer zones suffer from having a cooler growing season. There are definitely some very, very windy sites that might cause tissue dieback,” said Garland, who recommended considering microclimates when deciding where and what to plant. “To have a clear understanding of the warm pockets and cold pockets is a thing to consider,” she said, for example, planting tender plants close to a house’s foundation to create a warmer microclimate.